1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of producing whiskers, particularly TiC whiskers, and also relates to a method of producing a metallic composite material reinforced by TiC whiskers.
2. Prior Art
As a method of producing TiC whiskers, there is a method conventionally known, as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication 58-60700, which comprises the steps of treating a carbonic substrate with a water solution of a salt of noble metal, and supplying thereafter a gaseous mixture of titanium halide vapor and CO around the carbonic substrate, so as thereby to let TiC whiskers deposit and grow on the surface of the carbonic substrate until they attain a required size, such TiC whiskers then being collected.
By the above-mentioned method it is possible to produce TiC whiskers of a desired size within a range of 1-30 microns mean diameter and 0.5-5 mm mean length according to an appropriate selection of the noble metal element and the density of the water solution of the salt thereof.
As is well known, in order to improve the strength, tenacity and grindability of the composite material reinforced by such whiskers, it is necessary to reduce the diameter of each whisker to be as small as possible. However, no such whiskers having a mean diameter smaller than 1 micron are available by the method disclosed in the above-mentioned patent laid-open publication.